Blade of the Immortal, Vol. 25

Manji and Rin have had some rough times of late. The two were separated, Rin’s quest for vengeance was put on hold as she undertook the rescue of Manji. Since then they’ve had rather clear sailing though with plenty of time for rest and relaxation. Unfortunately all that is about to change. The 25th volume of Hiroaki Samura’s samurai revenge epic brings us the beginning of one of the major and most anticipated showdowns in the series as Manji must face off against the psychotic Shira.

The last few volumes have slowed things down a bit introducing new antagonists and focusing on the machinations of Kagimura, the disgraced samurai now sworn to track down the Itto Ryu, and the Itto Ryu. Now it’s time for the spotlight to once again rest upon the duo of Rin and Manji. While the showdown with Shira is the driving point for this volume it’s not the only thing that happens. Samura takes the chance to fill in some blanks and call back to the torture arc which explored attempts at transferring Manji’s immortality to others as he reveals the final conclusion reached by Burando, the doctor in charge of the experiments. While it’s both interesting and vaguely fascinating to revisit that arc the revelations in this volume feel a bit out of place and forced. Samura essentially spells out the mechanics of Manji’s immortality boiling it down and explaining in detail, complete with a chart detailing certain biological aspects of it. The whole thing feels less like something I’d expect to see in this series and more like something I’d expect to crop up in the middle of a generic shonen fight scene. While his reasoning for spelling it makes a certain amount of sense and allows for a rather interesting and disturbing upgrade for a certain someone, I can’t help but be a bit disappointed with the revelation and feel that in doing so Samura’s stripped the series of a little bit of it’s mystery and charm.

Visually the book hasn’t lost a step at all and it looks fantastic. The action sequences are engaging and interesting, especially the opening chapter which briefly switches to a first person perspective before switching back for a rather incredible and gory two page spread. Beyond that though Samura’s art looks as lovely as ever, a trend which seems to have started with the end of the torture arc and which I’m glad to see continue here.

It’s a rather important volume for the series as several plot threads come together once again for what promises to be a rather brutal and entertaining battle. I can’t really see Manji or Rin dying, but Samura’s spent the last few volumes building up a supporting cast, several or whom are present and it’s quite possible that any number of them could end up dead before the end of Manji’s battle with Shira. I suppose the only way to find out is to stick around for volume 26, something I definitely intend on doing.